Assembly Square Infill and Small Developments | Somerville

[sm89]

I think the area would be much better for pedestrians if they could make Grand Union skinner from the Rotary to the light at the Partners building. I'm sure that REIT would like the extra space and could possibly pay Somerville for this to happen.

Another idea would be to upgrade the bike lanes to protected bike lanes on the other side of parked cars which would make the street feel smaller and slow down traffic. When I bike protected bike lanes feel a lot safer than unprotected ones, everyone drives in unprotected lanes so it provides little to no benefit versus having no marked bike lanes.

The inner section (near Legoland and AMC) is very pedestrian friendly and has that road closure plaza section, but it's almost like they gave up when designing the outer roadways. I agree with davem that traffic signals would decrease safety, but the road should definitely be narrowed. The travel lanes are huge and they built door zone bike lanes. The right of way is enormous. Even with drivers using caution, an elderly or disabled person will not feel safe crossing in such a long crosswalk.

In a way, it seems as if they even went out of their way to make it horrible for people walking. To pay the meters on the strip mall side of Grand Union you have to walk across a 10ft (often muddy) grass planting strip and that's if you even notice the meters 15ft off in the distance. In the winter, this area is used to store snow from the street and sidewalk and the meters are inaccessible unless you're willing to walk 100+ feet all the way around. I guess you could climb the snow bank too. There is a nice wide sidewalk on this side too, but they cluttered it with benches and meters, making almost half of it unusable walking space.

Sigh. It's just so frustrating.

 

[cden4]

You should have seen the original design for Grand Union Boulevard. It was multiple lanes in each direction with no on street parking. At the end was a multi-lane roundabout rather than a single lane one. What we got was actually much better than what was originally proposed.

 

[Boston02124]

 

[DZH22]

Recent

IMG_0983 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_1011 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_1012 by David Z, on Flickr

 

[DZH22]

From Woburn

IMG_1193 by David Z, on Flickr

IMG_1196 by David Z, on Flickr

 

[tysmith95]

Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

This looks dated before it's even finished. And will be almost as devoid of pedestrians. And people wonder why the Natick Mall reboot didn't live up to the hype.

Nope. Hopefully people will start calling this a city square and not a mall.

Also does anyone know if this is partners phase 2?

Also i'm very surprised that the Circut City building is still vacant. It's been vacant for nearly 10 years and it's right across from all of this dense new development. Heck if a new apartment tower at assembly can fetch nearly 1000 a square foot it dosn't make economic sense for that site to be sitting empty.

 

[JumboBuc]

Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Also does anyone know if this is partners phase 2?

It's the child care center.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Re: Assembly Square Redevelopment

Also i'm very surprised that the Circut City building is still vacant. It's been vacant for nearly 10 years and it's right across from all of this dense new development. Heck if a new apartment tower at assembly can fetch nearly 1000 a square foot it dosn't make economic sense for that site to be sitting empty.

Squatting owners waiting patiently for an opportunity to swing for the fences. Circuit City was such a drop in the bucket in terms of rental revenue compared to MA's single-largest Home Depot location that they have the luxury of waiting it out. They're probably ready to pounce at buying up the crap parcels next door abutting the N. Union St. dead-end as soon as the price is right. Then they'll knock down the CC storefront to shear off the Home Depot parcel from redevelopment of the slab of land currently comprising CC+parking, SC Stone & Cabinets, and Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

And then after that keep marching like an invading army past N. Union and wait to flip everything left to the corner of Assembly Square Dr. when Roman Ironworks, Atlantic Carbide, and Tracer Technologies inevitably get squeezed out.

 

[JumboBuc]

^ By my measure, the CC lot by itself is bigger than all those other lots combined. It could easily carry significant development without the inclusion of any of its neighbors.

I'm more surprised that the space hasn't been leased (except for by seasonal pop-ups such as Spirit Halloween) than that it hasn't been redeveloped. The space is currently listed, so it's not as though the landlord is strictly land-banking.

 

[Jouhou]

Has anyone worked the numbers on what assembly row will do for somervilles population density by the next census? I'm curious because it's already so high up in comparison to other places in the US.

 

[tysmith95]

^
969 apartments/condos are either open or under construction. Therefore there should be around 2000-2500 people added to Somerville's population, of course that assumes that the remaining blocks aren't filled in with new residential before the next census in 2020.

 

[boston85]

The space is currently listed, so it's not as though the landlord is strictly land-banking.

When I was a kid, my family moved into a new development. Every lot but a few were built and sold before the bottom fell out in 91. On one of these lots, a house sat half finished for 5 years before the local developer finished and sold it when the market recovered. The town could not do anything or claim it was abandoned. The developer actively listed the property, just for way more than it was worth. All the town could do was fine him for when he let the grass grow too high and block driver sight lines because the lot was on a curve.

Just because it is listed, does not mean they are actively looking to fill the space.

 

[BeeLine]

https://flic.kr/p/LFuGfG

https://flic.kr/p/MbXKFC

https://flic.kr/p/LFzv8R

 

[BeeLine]

https://flic.kr/p/LZJsUr

https://flic.kr/p/LZZYsq

 

[tysmith95]

Looks like the new apartment tower should top out soon. The Condo/Hotel building is going up fast.

Here's an updated master plan

http://www.somervillema.gov/sites/d...5_OPENSPACE_ALP_SpecialPermit Master Plan.pdf

 

[jass]

Any new retail gone in recently?

 

[tysmith95]

Any new retail gone in recently?

The Partners retail has not opened yet. Mikes Pastry and Kings along with others are expected to go into that space.

 

[BeeLine]

https://flic.kr/p/Nwkq1A

 

[davem]

Some crappy cell phone pics from a few minutes ago:

^They're using real masons laying real brick on the low-rise portion. It makes a big aesthetic difference in a positive way. There's a little bit of brownstone used at the very base of the brickwork, too. (You can see it better in high-res)

I'm really glad they (seem to have) moved away from the rAnDOm bOxes foR wiNDOwss shown in the earlier renderings for a more traditional style to contrast the tower. Shame they VE'd out the balconies on the tower, though.

 

[tysmith95]

^Looks great. Are they planning to add solar panels to the top of the apartment building (the materials look similar to the ones on-top of the Partners garage and different than the rest of the structure)?

Edit: From the render it looks like they are. Cool!